Device for propelling and ventilating ships



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P. JOHNSON. DEVICE FOR PROPELLING AND VENTILATING SHIPS. No. 407,214.PatentedJuly 16, 1889.

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(No Model.) 8 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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V DEVICE FOR PROPELLING AND VENTILATING SHIPS. No. 407,214. PatentedJuly 16, 1889.

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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FERDINAND JOHNSON, OF NEW LONDON, PENNSYLVANIA.

DEVICE FOR PROPELLING AND VENTILATING SHIPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 407,214, dated July 16,1889.

Application filed October 30, 1388- Serial No. 289,671. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FERDINAND JoHNsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at New London, in the county of Chester and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inDevices for Propelling and Ventilating Vessels; and I do declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for propelling andventilating boats or vessels; and the invention consists in devices forventilating the vessel by means of a forced current of air produced bythe action of moving paddles through the air; and the invention alsoconsistsin the combination and arrangement of the several devices andparts that are used in the construction of the devices, as I hereinaftermore fully describe, and definitely point out in the claims.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a propelling devicewhich may be easily attached to the hulls of vessels already builtwithout materially changing or altering their present form orconstruction.

A second object is to provide a propelling device which will have agreater capacity to engage with the water without being cumbersome,unsightly, or inconvenient, whereby a greater and firmer resistance bythe water is obtained and the slip of the paddles is reduced.

A third object is to provide devices whereby a proper featheringmovement of the paddles will be obtained as they pass into and rise outof the water,in order that all pounding and lifting of the water in themovement of the paddles may be avoided.

A fourth object of my invention is to utilize the action of the bladesof the paddles passing rapidly through the air 011 their return movementto force a current of pure air to the boilerroom or other compartmentsof the vessel, whereby a means of ventilation for the vessel is providedwithout extra expense.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the devices I employ to attainthese objects, Figure 1 therein being a side view in elevation of thehull of a vessel with my improvement embodied therein. Fig. 2 is ahorizontal section of the same taken at a: an Fig. is a side view inelevation of the propelling de vice, on an enlarged scale, and detachedfrom the hull. Fig. 4 is a top or plan view of Fig. Fig. 5 is a sideview of my improvement, and showing avertical longitudinal section ofthe ventilating portion of the device. Fig. 6 is a horizontal section ofthe same. Fig. 7 is a transverse vertical section of Fig. 3, takenforward of the after wheels and looking toward the stern of the vessel.Fig. 8 is aside view of the chain-section. Fig. 9 is a plan view of thesame.

(t represents the hull of a vessel or boat, a being the bow and a" thestern thereof.

b and Z) are wheels placed on opposite sides of the hull a, and providedon their peripheries with suitable teeth or engaging sprockets b", andmounted upon a shaft 0, which passes into the hull a, and there connectsto the engines which are to supply the power to revolve the shaft andwheels. This shaft 0 may extend entirely through the hull, or may bedivided and each portion connected to the source of power independentlyof the other, if desired, and is provided with suitable boxes andsupporting devices for properly retaining the shaft and wheels inposition. The location of the shaft is near the stern a, and it is alsosituated so that when the hull is without a load or light the lowerportion of the wheels will be beneath the water and submerged to aconsiderably greater extent, of course, when the vessel is loaded.

(1 and (Z are wheels provided with teeth similar in form andconstruction to the wheels I), and are placed on opposite sides of andnear the bow of the hull a and in alignment with the wheels 1), and aremounted upon the shafts c. The shafts 0, however, are preferably short,and do not extend into the hull a, but are entirely supported bysuitable bearings outside thereof.

6 and c are endless chains, the construction of which will be presentlyexplained, passed over the wheels I) and d, the links or pivotedsections of the chain being arranged ries of paddles or blades g, theblades being arranged to turn on the bars, or the bars to turn in theirhearings in the chains, so that the blades will be pivotally supported,the pivotal point on the blades being preferably somewhat above theirhorizontal centers, so that a greater portion of the blades will bebelow the supports when in the water, and the blades are retained in aposition nearly or substantially perpendicular to the chains by the rodsf, one end of which is pivoted to the blades or paddles at g, whilethe'opposite ends thereof are pivotally connected to the carrying-chainsat a point at some distance from the paddles, preferably as shown, bybeing provided with an opening through which is passed the cross-barnext nearest.

The chains, being carried by the wheels I) and b and (Z and d, form anupper horizontal run of chain h and a lower run 2', which, as the wheelsI) are revolved by suitable power in the proper direction, propel thelower run Z of the chain from bow to stern through the water, usually ata considerable depth below its surface, while the upper run h is passedin the opposite direction through the atmosphere, the paddles g, carriedby the chain, being passed into the water near the bow by the wheels dand (Z and withdrawn therefrom by the wheels Z) and 1) near the stern,and by arranging and pivotally connecting the rods f, as beforedescribed, a means of feathering the paddles is provided, which, asshown in Fig. 3, turns the paddles as they begin to ascend out of thewater to such a position that one edge thereof is presented to the lineof movement, which removes the resistance of the water, the action ofthe rods being that while the chains follow the peripheries of thewheels and form the arc of a circle the rods remain a direct linebetween the buckets and form the, chord of the are, which of course isless than the length of the arc, and the forward ends of the rods beingimmovably secured to the chains, the opposite ends, which are pivoted tothe buckets below their pivotal supports, move to the rear, turning orfeathering the buckets upon their hearings to a position nearlyhorizontal with the chains, the position of the feathered buckets beingregulated by the position in which the rods are pivoted thereto. As thebuckets follow the peripheries of the wheels to near their upperportions, and the forward pivoted ends of the rods f move upon the upperhorizontal run h, the chains again straighten, and the buckets thenresume their original perpendicular position, and the feathering actionagain takes place in the same manner as the buckets pass over thefrontwheels d and the buckets are submerged with their edges presented to thewater, and as they start on the lower horizontal run of chain they areagain moved to their original perpendicular position.

The form of chain which I prefer to use in the construction of thedevice is that shown and described in Letters Patent No. 327,446, datedSeptember 29, 1886, a change being made by annexing to the lateral sidesof the toothed sections 7: the brace-plates j and j, as shown in Figs. 8and 9, the platesj being secured by passing the pivots which holdthechain-sections together through the ends of the plates, and theplates then, besides strengthening the chain, also act as flanges 011opposite sides of the teeth of the carryingwheels, which serve to retainthe chain in position upon the peripheries thereof. I11 order toproperly sustain the chains in position on the horizontal runs h and 2'between the wheels, and support the weight thereof, guidepieces k and laare placed in position between the wheels and provided each with alongitudinal groove Z, the guide It being sccured to the hull a, whilethe outer guides 7c are properly supported outside of the runs of chain.011 the opposite sides of the chains 6 and e are secured, in anysuitable manner, the laterally projecting blocks or lugs Z, which passinto and slide along the grooves Z, and the lugs Z are preferablyformed, as herein illustrated, by extending the ends of the rods fbeyond the lateral sides. of the chains, the projecting end beingprovided with a suitable block, sleeve, or roller, as desired.

The upper runs 7L of the chains are housed in or covered by a casing m,the Leasing also covering the upper portions of the. wheels I) and d,the chamber m within thecasing being of a suitable dimension toalldiiv'the buckets to pass when in a perpendicular position, and theportion inclosing the wheels d is extended downward below the surface ofthe water, forming an air-tight seal for the for-.

in any suitable manner to allow the free admission of the air to thechamber.

a is an air pipe or tube connecting with the forward end of the chamberm by one end and the opposite end is-led to theboilerroom of the vessel,or may be carried to any other portion thereof by branches, &c., asdesired.

I have described herein my invention as being constructed with twoendless chains and four carrying-wheels as being most convenient anddesirable; but for use on smaller craft the device may be, perhaps,preferably formed with one broad chain, carried, of course, by twosprocket-wheels, which would then necessitate the pivotal. points of theblades to be at their upper edges, and the working action of thisconstruction would be the same.

The operation of the device is: The power of the engine is preferablyapplied to the shaft to revolve the wheels I) and l) in the direction ofthe arrows shown in Fig. 3, and the chains 6 and c, engaging with theteeth upon the wheels I) and b, are propelled with considerablevelocity, the lower horizontal run 1' moving from bow to stern with thepaddles in a perpendicular position and engaging with their full areaupon the water to propel the vessel forward until the peripheries of thewheels I) and b are reached when the paddles are turned and rise overthe peripheries of the wheels to the upper run It, passing edgewisethrough the water, and offer no resistance until they are again turnedto a perpendicular position at the beginning of their forward movementwithin the chambers m, and the paddles, having an area which nearlyfills the entire area of the chamber transversely, move forward andcarry the air which 'is caught up as they start to the forward ends ofthe chambers, and the chamber being sealed by the water at the forwardend of the casing causes the air thus brought forward by the paddles topass from the chambers through the pipes at to the interior of the hullof the vessel.

It will be observed that the numerous paddles which are passing throughthe water at the same time present a great resistance and overcome to agreat degree the slip of propelling-wheels of the ordinary well-knownforms, so that the power is nearly all utilized for propelling thevessel forward instead of being lost to a great extent in the slip ormoving backward of the water.

The length of the rods f and the distance at which they are pivoted fromthe pivotal supports of the blades regulates the amount of feather orturning movement that is imparted to the blades, and, if desired, theforward pivoted ends of the rods may be secured to the chains at a pointconsiderably in advance of.the pivotal support of the next paddle, inorder to obtain the required movementin case it should be deemedadvisable to locate the paddles nearer to each other.

The position of the paddles g is herein described as being perpendicularto the chains 011 the upper and lower horizontal runs h and 1?; but I donot, however, confine the description entirely to this position, as foruse in some cases it may be desirable to have the blades set at a slightangle with the chains in order to produce the best working result, andby properly arranging the feathering devices the paddles may be retainedin a'position horizontal to the chains when passing over the upper run7L, and then the devices may be located entirely below the surface ofthe water and have the same action in propelling the vessel, although inthat case the ventilating devices would be omitted.

Of course the details of construction I have herein set forth are notaltogether to be followed in every particular, as in differentcircumstances the devices must be adapted to vessels of differentconstruction and outline, which would necessarily somewhat change theform and construction of my improvement, and hence I wish it distinctlyunderstood that I do not propose to confine my invention entirely to theprecise form and mode of applying the several devices I have de scribed;but

IVhat I claim, broadly, as my invent ion, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

1. In a device for propelling vessels, the combination, wit-h theliull,the endless gearchains mounted on sprockets and arranged with upper andlower horizontal runs between the said sprockets, the cross-rods f, withtheir ends passed through the chains and carrying the blades g,pivotally secured thereto, the brace-rods f, with one end pivotallysecured to the blades below their pivotal supports and with theiropposite ends extended forward and pivoted to the chains, of the lugs Z,proj eeting laterally 011 opposite sides of the chains, and thehorizontal guidepieces 7.; and it, supported on opposite sides of thechains and provided with the grooves Z to receive the lugs Z and supportthe chains on the said horizontal runs thereof, substantially as setforth.

2. In a device for propelling and ventilatin g vessels, the combination,with the hull a, the endless chains 6 and c, mounted onsupporting-wheels and provided with an upper horizontal run 71 and alower horizontal run i between the supportingqvheels, the blades g,supported in a perpendicular position between and carried by the saidchain, of the casing 071, inclosing the upper run h of the said chains,and having its forward end extended downward and sealed by the water,and the airpipe 12, opening into the forward end of the said casing andleading to the interior of the hull, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FERDINAND JOHNSON.

\Vitnesses:

II. KNowL'roN, JAS. E. THOMAS.

